Camden police veteran runs prisoner reentry program

Wherever Camden Mayor Dana L. Redd went, there was Cpl. Rhoda Thomas, in a loose-fitting suit and blouse, quietly blending in at City Council meetings or standing in the back at news conferences.

The lipstick and earrings may have fooled a few. But Thomas, Camden's first African American female police officer, had tangled with some of the city's toughest drug dealers in her 25 years on the force. She could take down anyone who posed a threat to the mayor.

Thomas, 54, retired from the force on March 31 after more than a year on the mayor's security detail. But she is back working for her old boss.

This month, she became director of Camden's new Office of Prevention and Reentry, a one-woman show aimed at helping residents reintegrate into society after prison. She also will work with at-risk youths to keep them on the right path.

The city has more than 700 residents on parole, one of the highest per-capita rates in the state, Police Chief Scott Thomson said.

Since opening in March 2010, Opportunity Reconnect - a reentry center associated with the Sen. Walter Rand Institute for Public Affairs at Rutgers-Camden - has helped about 1,000 ex-offenders find jobs and housing, and aided them in securing privileges, such as a driver's license, that most people take for granted, center director Joseph Cassisi said.

Thomas met the Opportunity Reconnect crew on Thursday and will work with it, along with other groups and agencies in the city, to coordinate services for ex-inmates and try to curb recidivism.

The tough former officer, who was honored at Camden's recent Women of Purpose awards as a positive role model, was approached about her new position after she decided to retire from the force, city officials said.

"If anyone could clear a corner, Rhoda could," Redd said, yet she had a gentle touch with youths and the elderly.

Everywhere Thomas goes, people call her name, Redd said.

Born and raised in Camden, Thomas graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in 1976. After earning an associate degree in law enforcement from Camden County College in the early 1980s, she worked briefly as a substitute teacher in the Camden School District.

She then decided to follow in her uncles' footsteps and become a police officer. She graduated from the Police Academy on April 3, 1986.

"It was not a good time," she said. As one of only two women on the force, she said, she had to work harder to gain her male colleagues' respect.

She worked in various bureaus, but her favorite was patrol. "That was my calling," she said.

For most of her career, Thomas worked the Centerville and Fairview neighborhoods, where she developed a reputation for strength and zero tolerance.

"I can't stand nonsense," she said in an interview last week.

"A lot of guys would rather have her as a partner than another guy," said Assemblyman Gilbert L. "Whip" Wilson, who served 26 years with the city Police Department. "People respected her."

Thomas was one of the department's "silent stars," Wilson said, a person who broke up prostitution rings and also handed out Christmas baskets to the needy.

In 2007, while investigating a violent branch of the Bloods street gang known as the Nine Trey Headbustas, the FBI frequently wiretapped members, Thomson said.

"Their conversation every day was, 'Is Officer Rhoda working today?' " Thomson said. "It showed the difference one officer can make."

Thomson said he recommended Thomas for the mayor's detail because she could do the job of five people. For security reasons, he would not say who, if anyone, would replace her in the position.

When Thomas retired, her salary was $89,000; she will receive a $58,300 pension. Her new job with the city pays $51,000, Camden spokesman Robert Corrales said.

"I'm looking forward to the challenge," Thomas said of her fresh start.

She said she planned to meet individually with ex-offenders and at-risk youths to assess their needs. She will coordinate with existing resources to get them settled, then track their progress, she said. Redd wants Thomas to be the first point of contact for recently released inmates.

The Office of Reentry in Newark, N.J., has had great success during its first two years, said Ingrid Johnson, who oversees its prisoner-reentry initiatives. More than 850 of the 1,418 people the office has tracked have found jobs.

The office - which consists of Johnson, an intake coordinator, a program manager, a policy adviser, and a data analyst - is an umbrella for five agencies that work with ex-offenders.

"Our mission is to manage this complex system and coordinate," especially in the area of employment, Johnson said.

Through grants and future government funding, Redd hopes to expand the Office of Prevention and Reentry to three employees. Now, though, it is just a small office on the fourth floor of City Hall with a desk, computer, and phone. And with Rhoda Thomas.